Hey, youngsters — not only does Uncle Sam wants
you, but he’s also got your number!
Not yet sure what you want to do in life? Why not get
paid and see an exotic part of the world while you’re getting it all
together? Yes, you could summer in sunny Iraq — and be a part of our
exciting occupation forces there, where there’s never a dull moment!
If you are 16 to 25 years old, chances are,
you’ll soon be receiving such a sales pitch from the Army. How will
recruiters find you? Easy — thanks to a new database secretly built
by the Pentagon, they know where you live. They also know your phone
number, your Social Security number, your e-mail address, your height and
weight, your grades in school, your ethnicity, and much more.
The Pentagon’s “Joint Advertising Market
Research Studies Division” brags that this dandy database is
“arguably the largest repository of 16- to 25-year-old youth data in
the country, containing roughly 30 million records.” It includes
personal info on 3.1 million graduating high-school seniors and 4.7 million
college students. All this is to be used to target, reach, and recruit
young folks to fill the troop quotas for President George W. Bush’s
war in Iraq.
There are, however, two problems with the
Pentagon’s sweeping new database. First, it was illegally compiled.
Officials began building it three years ago without giving public notice
and allowing public comment — a flagrant violation of the Federal
Privacy Act. Second, the private information allows military recruiters to
intrude surreptitiously into people’s homes and put a sales job on
their children. As one appalled mom says: “It’s a direct shot
to someone’s child without consent from a parent.”
To help shut down this illegal, intrusive database,
call the Electronic Privacy Information Center at 202-483-1140.
This article appears in Jul 28 – Aug 3, 2005.
